I finally made the move over to Windows Vista and Office 2007.

I have been thinking about the logistics of the move since receiving my shiny discs from Microsoft a few weeks back.

I’ll be honest I need the most amount of flexibility available to me at all times (at home, at work and on customers sites).

I manage so many connections, websites, networks and Database Applications my digital life is a nightmare.

So I have decided to make a baby step move covering all eventualities.

This is as follows.

The primary Operating System of my main computer which is my laptop (Dell XPS M1210) is running Windows Vista Business and Office 2007 Enterprise Edition.

This machine dual boots a fully operational Windows XP Pro and Office 2003 environment. However I will only boot into Windows XP when I am on a customers site and need access to it. Otherwise its Windows Vista and Office 2007 for everything else.

I haven’t established just how bad Vista and Office Application compatibility is going to be so as a backup on my work desk I have a Dell Precision 390 with Windows XP and Office 2003 that I can use for anything that’s an issue on Windows Vista/Office 2007.

This machine (the Precision) can be accessed using remote desktop from within Windows Vista from my laptop.

I have currently identified two things that need to stay on Windows XP for a while these are:-

FTP WSFT-Pro2006 – This is the software I use to upload and download information from websites. It does not Support Windows Vista; it’s not yet officially supported by www.ipswitch.com (the creators of WSFTP-Pro).

Office 2003 Development – I develop in Microsoft Access and the Office 2003 platform almost every day. I had a quick look at Office 2007 from a backwards compatibility point of view and decided I wanted to keep Office 2003 and Office 2007 completely separate.

Summary

So for my comfort level I need access to 3 installs to cover all eventualities. I could get by with dual booting the laptop but it’s a major pain to swap operating systems mid flow.